On this site will be posted analyses of popular media productions. These analyses will have to do with determining the underlying meanings of various movies, songs, and certain novels. Methods used to analyze a given production will include exploration of the creators' use of symbolism, allegory, metaphor, etc., and deciphering any arcane or obscure references that it may contain.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Jimmie Dimmick (left) and Winston Wolf ('The Wolf') get ready to clean up Vincent and Jules.

One part of the movie that we have not yet discussed is the 'Bonnie Situation'. We note that when The Wolf is first contacted by phone, the view we get of the inside of his home indicates that an evening get-together is in progress; this is, of course, inconsistent with it being morning in Los Angeles. The Wolf is located in the San Fernando Valley, which is actually part of the city of Los Angeles, but the evening event indicates that he is, within some metaphorical context, 'in' Asia, where it would be many hours later than it would be where he is physically located.

Top left: The Wolf's watch indicates that it's about 8:40 when he gets the call from Marsellus. Top right: We note that the dress and seating of The Wolf's guests (shown at the right-hand part of the screencap), suggest that an evening get-together is in progress. While the daylight that we can see through the windows of the house, taken together with the reading on The Wolf's watch, indicates that outside, it's 8:40 a.m., the inside of the home is, within some metaphorical context, on it's 'own time', one in which it's 8:40 p.m. The Wolf tells Marsellus that the location of Jimmie's residence is 30 minutes away, and that he'll get there in 10 minutes. Above left: As The Wolf heads down Jimmie's street (his silver car is just barely visible in the distance in this screencap - click to enlarge), a screen caption confirms that his prediction as to time of arrival was correct. Above right: That it's morning-time, is confirmed by the fact that Jimmie (foreground) is wearing a robe, and that he serves The Wolf coffee. The 'discrepancy' of its being morning at Jimmie's, with the evening setting inside The Wolf's house, is one indication that, metaphorically speaking, The Wolf has 'arrived (at Jimmie's) from Asia'.

While The Wolf and the other men in Jimmie's house are attempting to solve the problem of getting rid of the corpse that was in Jules and Vincent's car, we are at one point shown the 'potential' scenario should Bonnie, Jimmie's wife, arrive home from her night shift job while the action is still in progress. In this scenario, the corpse is shown as being in Jimmie's house, in full view of Bonnie (as shown in the screencap at left).

Regarding The Wolf's arrival at Jimmie's place, his shorter than normal travel time from his residence to Jimmie's house (10 minutes instead of 30) is a suggestion that a 'contraction' in time has occurred during his travel; this is another hint that he is arriving from a place a great distance away, specifically, Asia. The overall idea here is that Jules and Vincent are, metaphorically speaking, obtaining 'help' from Asia, and in specific, from the concepts of Hinduism, Buddhism, and/or Indian Buddhism.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

[Image at left from the Wikipedia 'Red Dragon (film)' page; "Red Dragon movie",[a] licensed under fair use via Wikipedia.]

Let us compare Manhunter with the Red Dragon film. Red Dragon is a 2002 thriller film based on Thomas Harris's novel of the same name and featuring psychiatrist and serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter. It is a prequel to The Silence of the Lambs.

The film was directed by Brett Ratner and written for the screen by Ted Tally, who also wrote the screenplay for the Oscar-winning The Silence of the Lambs. It stars Edward Norton as FBI agent Will Graham and Anthony Hopkins as Lecter, a role he had, by then, played twice before in The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal.

1. In Red Dragon, Hannibal's last name is spelled 'Lecter', whereas it is spelled 'Lecktor' in Manhunter. Also, 'Dolarhyde' is used instead of 'Dollarhyde'. Both of the spellings in Red Dragon are in keeping with those used in the original novel.

2. In Red Dragon, a 'back-story' to Lecter's imprisonment and Graham's retirement is provided at the beginning of the movie: In his townhouse in Baltimore, Maryland, psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Hopkins) hosts a dinner party (above left screencap), where his guests might well be dining on portions of a man they knew. Lecter is later visited by Will Graham (Norton), a gifted, young FBI agent, with whom he has been working on creating a psychological profile of a serial killer. Edible body parts of the victims, such as the kidneys and liver, were removed from the bodies, leading Graham to believe that the killer could be a cannibal. During the consultation and brainstorming session, Graham discovers evidence implicating Dr. Lecter in the murders. Lecter attacks him (above right screencap), almost disemboweling Graham before being subdued.

Lecter is sentenced to life imprisonment in an institution for the criminally insane while Graham, severely traumatized by the experience, retires from the FBI.[c]

3. In Red Dragon, the events that take place after Graham has his revelation about how Dolarhyde selects his victims, through the end of the movie, differ from those in Manhunter and are as follows:

Dolarhyde (played by Fiennes) goes to see Reba (Watson) and finds her with a coworker, Ralph Mandy (Frank Whaley), a sleazy man whom she actually dislikes. Jealous and enraged, Dolarhyde kills Mandy, kidnaps Reba and, having taken her to his house, sets it on fire. He finds himself unable to shoot her, so Dolarhyde turns his shotgun on himself and fires. Reba, hearing the clock chime and remembering how many steps are from there to the front door, is able to escape as the police show up and the house explodes (below left screencap).

Graham is given Dolarhyde's scrapbook, saved from the wreckage of the house, which details the killer's tragic childhood -- the verbal abuse he suffered from a grandmother (voice of Ellen Burstyn) -- and obsession with murder. Graham feels pity for Dolarhyde; he was made a monster, not born one.

However, it turns out Dolarhyde staged his own death by leaving behind the body of Mandy. He turns up at Graham's home in Florida, where he threatens Graham's son with a piece of broken glass (below right screencap). To save the boy, Graham slings insults at his son that are reminiscent of the ones Dolarhyde's grandmother had used against him. Dolarhyde attacks Graham as the boy flees to safety. Both men are severely wounded in a shootout which Graham's wife, Molly (Parker), ends by shooting and killing Dolarhyde.

After recovering, Graham receives a letter from the incarcerated Lecter, which bids him well and hopes that he isn't "too ugly." Dr. Frederick Chilton (Anthony Heald) then informs Lecter that there is a young woman from the FBI, waiting to speak with him. Lecter looks up, then asks, "What is her name?"[d]

4. In Red Dragon, the Grahams' son is named Josh instead of Kevin. Molly is committing incest with Josh, as suggested by the fact that she's shown holding him in an inappropriately intimate manner in one scene (see the left-hand screencap below).

Below left: Molly and Josh Graham (from Red Dragon). Below right: Mrs. Leeds represents the Whore of Babylon in Red Dragon (shown), just as she does in Manhunter.

5. In Red Dragon, the epithet "Tooth Fairy" is not used in the Atlanta police lecture. Just after the lecture, however, it is used by Lounds when he confronts Graham; then soon after this, it is used by both Graham and Crawford in conversation. The point is that the term is being freely used, so Lecter and Dolarhyde must have both known about it from the press.

That Dolarhyde knows about the name 'Tooth Fairy', is evident when we are shown a newspaper clipping using that name in his scrapbook.

6. In Red Dragon, Lecter gets Graham's address from Bloom's office as 'P.O. Box 3680, Marathon, Florida'. Then later it is given by Lecter in his book code as 'Graham home, Marathon, Florida'.

7. In Red Dragon, the tissue note text is somewhat different than that in Manhunter, and it is lengthier. It is still the case that Lecter composed the top part of the note and Dolarhyde the bottom portion, as in Manhunter. The note is found in Lecter's cell by a cleaning man, having been rolled up in a roll of toilet paper. Lecter, who is being kept in another room during a supposed power outage, notices a couple of fingers of a rubber glove sticking out of the cleaning man's back pocket (see screencap at left) while this man is walking down the corridor after having placed the note back in the roll of toilet tissue (after it has been examined by the investigators). The cleaning man used rubber gloves to handle the note while placing it back in Lecter's cell. The point is that just as in Manhunter, Lecter wanted the note to be found, and the fact that he's seen a portion of the glove sticking out of the cleaning man's pocket, is our indication that he knows it has been found.

The indication we're given that Lecter wants Will to think the thoughts expressed in the note are his (Will's) own thoughts, is when the voiceover for the reading of the note is done such that Graham's voice is used at the beginning, and then after a few moments, Dolarhyde's voice comes in to continue in place of Graham's.

8. Whereas in Manhunter, Graham makes only one visit to Lecter, in Red Dragon he makes several visits.

9. In Red Dragon, the Leeds were killed in the month of March, and the Jacobis in February, so there is no issue of a 'hunter's moon'.

10. In Red Dragon, Lecter's 'book code' specifies many more verses than does the one in Manhunter.

11. Things are done differently with the bite marks, teeth cast, and Dolarhyde's false teeth in Red Dragon, than they are in Manhunter. In Red Dragon, during the Atlanta police lecture, it is stated that the cast indicates a "degree of crookedness and a groove on the central incisor, making the bite unique." Later in the movie, when we're shown the false teeth that Dolarhyde uses to bite his victims (which were his grandmother's teeth while she was alive), they match this description (see above screencaps; the groove on the central incisor is pointed to by the orange arrow in the left-hand screencap). Also, when one of the FBI investigators (Beverly) overlays the tissue note impression on the cast, there is a match.

Top left: In Red Dragon, the tissue note is found in two pieces, just as in Manhunter. Top right: The teeth marks at the bottom of the note match the cast done of the bite marks found on Mrs. Leeds. Above left: The hair found on the note is dark, and is too long to be an arm hair. Above right: Note that the cleaning man has dark hair of a length which indicates that the hair on the note could have come from himself. Also note that he is wearing rubber gloves; thus the rubber glove fingertips later sticking out of his back pocket, as discussed above.

12. As mentioned above, in Red Dragon there is a match between the teeth cast, and the bite marks on the tissue note. The hair found on the note, which is too long to be an arm hair, as stated above, looks like it could have come from Dolarhyde's head (see screencap at left), but it also looks like it could have come from the cleaning man's head (as indicated above).

13. In Red Dragon, Beverly and Jimmy are billed by their first names only, neither has darkish skin, and there is no Brian Zeller character, so it seems we do not have the representation of the sons of Noah (Shem and Japheth) in Red Dragon.

14. In Red Dragon, Dollarhyhde's blood type is determined by both saliva and semen samples, instead of only by a saliva sample as is the case in Manhunter.

15. The William Blake Great Red Dragon paintings are used differently in Red Dragon than they are in Manhunter.

The painting at above left, which is cataloged in the Brooklyn Museum (in New York) as The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun, is the only one we are shown in the Red Dragon movie, and it is the only one referred to in the film as well. [Image from the Wikipedia 'The Great Red Dragon Paintings' page, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.] It depicts the woman and the dragon from the biblical book of Revelation, verses 12:1-4. Verses 3 and 4 allude to Satan's first downfall, in which he is 'kicked out' of heaven. This is the painting which is shown in Dolarhyde's scrapbook in Red Dragon (top right screencap). This painting is listed elsewhere as The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun. Furthermore, its alternate name is "The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in the Rays of the Sun." In Red Dragon, Dolarhyde visits the Brooklyn Museum, looks at the painting (lower right screencap above), and then tears it out of its binder (below left) and eats it (below right). On the Red Dragon "Collector's Edition" DVD, Red Dragon screenwriter Ted Tally interprets this to mean that Dolarhyde is trying to take away the power of the dragon in his head.

Above left and right: When Will Graham visits a library in Red Dragon, the painting discussed above is the one he sees (in a book), listed as "The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun" and accompanied by text which implies that the woman is pregnant and which includes the words, "According to tradition, the dragon is worldly power and the woman Israel, oppressed in her innocence by the wicked" (click right-hand image to enlarge).

The painting at left is listed on website of the National Gallery of Art (in Washington, D.C.) as The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun. [Image from the Wikipedia 'The Great Red Dragon Paintings' page, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.] It has inscribed across the top, "The Devil is Come Down." The painting is cataloged (in the National Gallery of Art) as The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun: "the Devil is come down", and it refers to Revelation 12: 12-17. Ostensibly, it depicts the same woman as the yellow painting above; the dragon represents Satan after his second downfall, in which he is banished from heaven (as described in Revelation 12:7-10). This is the only painting we are shown in Manhunter (when it is displayed to Freddy Lounds, as shown in the above screencap), but Dollarhyde refers to it as "The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in the Rays of the Sun", which as we observed, is an alternate name for the other painting above (the yellow painting).

a. Poster for Red Dragon: The poster art copyright is believed to belong to the distributor of the film, Universal / MGM, the publisher of the film or the graphic artist.
b. Wikipedia, 'Red Dragon (film)'. Web, n.d. URL = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Dragon_(film).
c. Ibid.
d. Ibid.

[UPDATE: The analysis of Manhunter has been extended, in the 'unified analysis' of the first three Lecter movies.]

Friday, January 8, 2010

This post continues the discussion of part 79, of what it is the movie-makers are telling us about what has happened, what is happening, and what will happen regarding various real-life evil parties (an evil Satanic party represented by Hannibal Lecktor, evil high-ranking Freemasons and Mormons, and certain other parties).

Lloyd Bowman is working with Jack Crawford, in that he represents some party in the Freemasons' camp that is ultimately working for the evil Satanic party represented by Lecktor, to betray some of the other Freemasons. The given name Lloyd comes from a surname which was derived from Welsh llwyd meaning "grey."[a] Recalling the multiple-colored screens in Bowman's work area, we note that when two colors that are placed opposite each other on a color wheel are mixed, the resulting color is gray (which can also be spelled "grey"). The indication is that Bowman represents some party that is a mix of one or more sets of opposites.

Jimmy Price is tied in with Lecktor to the extent that he's helping Lecktor defeat the second coming of Christ, but he is ultimately working on the side of Dollarhyde. He represents that component of the Mormons who are loyal to the Freemasons (or at least, to the subset of Freemasons represented by Dollarhyde). The name 'Price' suggests that the Mormons represented by Jimmy Price are, in some respect, performing a service for money, with the 'Dollar' part of the name Dollarhyde suggesting that the subset of the Freemasons represented by Dollarhyde, are the payers for this service.

Dr. Sidney Bloom represents the Greek god Dionysos, the god of ritual winemaking and ecstasy. He is deceiving Will and in this context is working with Lecktor, but he is mainly doing so for personal reasons. He is trying to help Lecktor push Will 'over the edge' psychologically, but initially, the doctor doesn't realize that in helping Lecktor to do this, he is putting his own life in danger: Lecktor's plan is to have Will kill Molly, Kevin, and the doctor. He is Molly's half-brother, having the same father as she does, and was once married to her. Molly is trying to get him to return to her, but he doesn't show up at her residence in Captiva as she had expected. He didn't go there because he was worried Lecktor might have set him up (which he had). In terms of Freemasonry, Dr. Bloom represents the Dionysiac Architects.

Molly Graham, Will's wife, represents the Greek goddess, Aphrodite, and she also represents the Molly Bloom character from James Joyce's Ulysses. She has not only committed incest with her half-brother, Sidney Bloom, but she has also done so with her own son, Kevin. Molly is unhappy being married to Will, and she hopes that he will take the Tooth Fairy assignment and be killed, so that she can be rid of him and return to Sidney Bloom.

Reba represents Rhea Sylvia, who was a Vestal Virgin. She also represents the woman in Revelation 12 in the bible, i.e., the "woman clothed with the sun." The reason Dollarhyde hesitated when he was about to kill her, on the night he had her in his house, was because he had impregnated her when they had sex, and he could sense his offspring within her.

Mrs. Leeds represents the Whore of Babylon.

Freddy Lounds represents not only the tabloid news media, but certain parties in the mainstream news media. That Dollarhyde tortures and kills him, symbolizes that the subset of Freemasons that Dollarhyde represents will seek some form of revenge on certain persons in the media, for trying to help draw them into a trap.

Dr. Chilton is the prison psychologist where Lecktor is held. The name Chilton (English) means: habitational name from any of the various places [in the U.K.] called Chilton, for example in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, County Durham, Hampshire, Kent, Shropshire, Somerset, Suffolk, and Wiltshire. The majority are shown by early forms to derive from Old English cild 'child' + tun 'enclosure', 'settlement'.[b] Dr. Chilton represents that subgroup of Freemasons that is responsible for specially breeding and raising children (like cattle) in the areas in and around the Texas cities of Wichita Falls and Graham, with the name Chilton meaning, effectively, 'child enclosure'; for cattle are bred and raised in enclosures. These children are to be sexually abused by Freemasons in their and other parties' future utopia in southern Indiana, and they are also currently being sexually abused in Texas.

Historically, there has been a relationship between Mormonism and Freemasonry. One similarity between the two groups is that in Mormonism, the greater of the two orders of priesthood is called the Melchizedek priesthood; and in the ritual for achievement of the 19th degree practiced in Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite Freemasonry, a system which is popular in North America and Continental Europe, the neophyte is anointed with oil and proclaimed a Priest "after the Order of Melchizedek." Jimmy Price represents the Mormons who are members of the Melchizedek priesthood. Since Beverly Katz represents (a descendant of) Melchizedek, she represents a priest after the Order of Melchizedek. Also, since Beverly can be either a man's or woman's name, the indication is that at least some of the priests after the Order of Melchizedek are hermaphroditic. Katz is pretending to be working with Dollarhyde but is actually working for Lecktor; and Bowman is working with Crawford, for Lecktor, to deceive Dollarhyde. Also, Lecktor (evil Satanic party), Katz (priests after the Order of Melchizedek), Bowman and Crawford (some component(s) of the Freemasons which is aligned with the evil Satanic force Lecktor represents), and Price (Melchizedek priesthood), are all deceiving Graham (representing the Pythagorean Brotherhood) and Bloom (representing the Dionysiac Architects). And, since Bloom is betraying Graham, the Dionysiac Architects are deceiving the Pythagorean Brotherhood.

Psalm 110, in referring to a future messiah of the Davidic line, alludes to the priest-king Melchizedek as a prototype of this messiah. This allusion led the author of the Letter to the Hebrews in the New Testament to translate the name Melchizedek as "king of righteousness" and Salem as "peace", so that Melchizedek is made to foreshadow Christ, stated to be the true king of righteousness and peace (Heb. 7:2). According to the analogy, just as Abraham, the ancestor of the Levites, paid tithes to Melchizedek and was therefore his inferior, so the Melchizedek-like priesthood of Christ is superior to that of the Levites. Furthermore, just as the Old Testament assigns no birth or death date to Melchizedek, so is the priesthood of Christ eternal.[c]

We thus see that the evil parties' messiah is to be someone from among those persons belonging to the Order of Melchizedek.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

This post and the next one will serve to summarize certain information covered previously in the analysis, as well as present new information, regarding who each of the characters in Manhunter represents, and what it is that these representations, together with the action in the movie, imply that the movie-makers are telling us about what has happened, what is happening, and what will happen regarding various real-life evil parties (an evil Satanic party represented by Hannibal Lecktor, evil high-ranking Freemasons and Mormons, and certain other parties).

Will Graham represents an entity who was to become Christ. He also represents the mythological Greek figure, Adonis, the god of beauty and desire; and, he represents the Hebrew patriarch Abraham (by virtue of the common name element 'raham' in Graham and Abraham). Within the context of Freemasonry, Graham represents the Pythagorean Brotherhood.

Noting that the 'bal' in 'Hannibal' sounds similar to 'baal', a commonly used name for the Devil, Hannibal Lecktor represents a personification of Satan. Lecktor's attempt to defeat Graham symbolizes the fact that the Satanic party he represents has been working (along with other parties) to prevent the second coming of Christ. Lecktor also represents the Greek god Hermes, and his Roman 'equivalent', Mercury. And, since Mercury's father was the god Jupiter, Lecktor also represents the 'presence' of Jupiter. Within the context of the Hermetic correspondences between planets, metals, and bodily organs, discussed in part 59 of the analysis, Lecktor represents Mercury, quicksilver, and the lungs.

Jack Crawford represents John the Baptist, who foretold the coming of Jesus, insofar as he appears to be John the Baptist to Graham's unconscious. This is to help Hannibal Lectkor in his plan to prevent the second coming of Christ - Crawford is helping Lecktor 'draw out' Jesus, through Will, so that when Will is defeated, the second coming will have been defeated. Crawford represents some component of the Freemasons that is ultimately working for the Satanic force Lecktor represents. Crawford is functioning as a 'spy' for Lecktor in Dollarhyde's camp, i.e., he is pretending to be working on Dollarhyde's side, in order to get information about him which can help Lecktor (Lecktor needs to prevent Dollarhyde from becoming the great red dragon, for if Francis became the dragon, then he would 'usurp' Lecktor's place as a personification of Satan). At some point prior to the confrontation between Graham and Dollarhyde at the end of the movie, Dollarhyde must have found out that Crawford was working against him. Jack's surname is a reference to Crawford County, Indiana, which is where the evil parties mentioned above plan to establish their utopia, i.e., their 'New Jerusalem'.

Francis Dollarhyde represents a descendant of Ham (son of Noah), and he also represents a subset of the Freemasons. Dollarhyde being manipulated like a marionette by Lecktor, symbolizes that the subset of Freemasons Dollarhyde represents are being manipulated like marionettes by the Satanic force Lecktor represents. Dollarhyde is trying to become the great red dragon, and thereby 'usurp' Lecktor's place as a personification of Satan. This symbolizes the fact that the subset of the Freemasons Dollarhyde represents wants to eventually get the upper hand with the evil Satanic party Lecktor represents, instead of being ruled over by this party, in the modern-day utopia that is to be established by this and other evil parties working together. Dollarhyde also represents the biblical giant, Nimrod, who built the Tower of Babel. The 'Dollar' in his surname is a reference to money; this is discussed further in relation to the Jimmy Price character, in the next post in the analysis. Finally, Dollarhyde also represents the Roman god of war, Mars, and his Greek 'equivalent', Ares.

Beverly Katz represents a descendant of Noah's son, Shem, and she also represents a descendant of the biblical king and priest, Melchizedek. Katz is helping Lecktor to defeat the second coming of Christ, by helping him defeat Graham. The name Beverly is associated with the beaver, an animal that builds; Freemasonry evolved from the guilds of stonemasons and cathedral builders of the Middle Ages. Also, beavers are nocturnal animals; recall Dollarhyde's reference to nocturnal animals when speaking with Reba in the darkroom at Gateway Labs (he tells Reba that he needs special film to study nocturnal animals). Since Dollarhyde represents some subset of Freemasons, the foregoing indicates a connection between Katz and Dollarhyde. The connection is that Katz is functioning as a spy for Lecktor, in Dollaryde's camp, i.e., she is informing Lecktor on certain things to do with Dollarhyde and his allies, such as the actions of Jimmy Price. Ultimately, she represents a party that is working with the evil Satanic party represented by Lecktor.

Brian Zeller (on the far right in the screencap at left) is working with Katz, but is not fully aligned with her, as revealed by the fact that he lets Graham know about the incest between Molly and Kevin (or at least, he tells Will something that leads Will to conclude that the incest is happening). Like the name Katz, Zeller is a German and Jewish (Ashkenazic) surname.

Will Graham's surname is a reference to the real-life city of Graham, Texas. Since Jack Crawford (John the Baptist) is to 'baptize' Will Graham (an entity who is to become Christ), and since Crawford's name is a hint about the location of the New Jerusalem (the evil parties' planned utopia) in Indiana, as indicated above, it can be seen that a certain set of evil events has been taking place regarding the planned establishment of New Jerusalem: The children that are to populate (and have already begun populating) the Indiana location, are currently being raised and educated (and effectively being brainwashed) in the region surrounding Graham, Texas, and they are then being 'baptized' in some figurative manner prior to their removal to Indiana.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

One thing we notice about the 'shootout' scene at Francis Dollarhyde's house near the end of the movie, is that each time Will Graham fires a bullet at Dollarhyde, there is an unusual 'jerk' or 'jump' in Dollarhyde's bodily movement (as suggested by Dollarhyde's body position in the image at left) - not something which is due to the impact of the bullets hitting him alone.

Dollarhyde's motions, as described above, are like those of a marionette, i.e., of a puppet operated from above by strings. This is a metaphor for the idea that some force is manipulating and controlling him. What this implies within the context of Dollaryhde representing the Freemasons, is that the Freemasons are themselves being manipulated and controlled by a Satanic force.

In the below left-hand screencap, note the long horizontal 'beam' of violet light above Dollarhyde. This is further evidence for the existence of the marionette metaphor in Manhunter. Since the beam is violet, it represents the 'presence' of Lecktor - recall the violet coloring in the sink in Lecktor's cell (below right-hand screencap). The beam thus represents, in part, the manipulation of Dollarhyde from above, by the Satanic force that Lecktor represents.

Since the beam in Dollarhyde's work area is a lighter shade of violet than the violet in Lecktor's sink, and is instead more similar in color to the violet in Jimmy Price's laser machine (shown at left), its color also indicates that, as stated in part 74, Dollarhyde is working with Jimmy Price.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Nimrod is a Mesopotamian monarch mentioned in the biblical book of Genesis, who also figures in many legends and folktales. He is depicted in the bible as a mighty ruler and nation builder who founded many cities, including the great Babel or Babylon.

Mention of Nimrod in the bible is rather limited. He is described as the son of Cush, grandson of Ham, great-grandson of Noah; and as "a mighty one on the earth" and "a mighty hunter before the Lord." He also appears in the first book of Chronicles and in the book of Micah. In City of God Book 16, chapter 3, St. Augustine describes Nimrod as "a giant hunter against the Lord God"; Dollarhyde's tallness and strength are suggestive of the characteristics of a giant, and thus, he represents Nimrod.

Though not clearly stated in the bible, Nimrod has since ancient times traditionally been considered the creator of the Tower of Babel.

One tradition says that Shem killed Nimrod because he had led the people into the worship of Baal.

The evil Nimrod vs. the righteous AbrahamThe bible does not mention any meeting between Nimrod and Abraham. In fact, there is a gap of seven generations between them, Nimrod being Noah's great grandson while Abraham was ten generations removed from Noah. Nevertheless, later Jewish tradition brings the two of them together in a cataclysmic collision, a potent symbol of the cosmic confrontation between Good and Evil, and specifically of monotheism against paganism and idolatry.

This tradition is first attested in the writings of Pseudo-Philo, continues in the Talmud, and goes through later rabbinical writings in the Middle Ages. In some versions (as in Josephus), Nimrod is a man who sets his will against that of God. In others, he proclaims himself a god and is worshiped as such by his subjects, sometimes with his consort Semiramis worshiped as a goddess at his side. (See also Ninus).

A portent in the stars tells Nimrod and his astrologers of the impending birth of Abraham, who would put an end to idolatry. Nimrod therefore orders the killing of all newborn babies. However, Abraham's mother escapes into the fields and gives birth secretly (in some accounts, the baby Abraham is placed in a manger). At a young age Abraham recognizes God and starts worshiping Him. He confronts Nimrod and tells him face-to-face to cease his idolatry.[a]

We see that the confrontation between Graham and Dollarhyde represents the confrontation between monotheism and paganism; for recall that Graham represents Abraham, due to the final 'raham' in their names.

In part 63 of the analysis, we observed that on the night Dollarhyde had Reba in his house, there was a harvest moon, and that the harvest moon is often mistaken for the hunter's moon, which occurs one month later. As indicated above, Nimrod was described as a mighty hunter before the Lord. The indication is that Dollarhyde 'mistook' the harvest moon for the hunter's moon, and thus, on the night he confronted Graham, he imagined that he was, in fact, a personification of Nimrod.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Top left: As Crawford and Graham are about to arrive in St. Louis, where they know the Tooth Fairy works, Lieutenant Fisk of the Missouri State Police and his men (shown) have pulled up a picture and description of Francis Dollarhyde from the Missouri Department of Revenue. Top right: The information on Dollarhyde is sent by Fisk via datafax, and comes through to Crawford and Graham's plane as shown. Above left: As Graham watches the datafax come through, he realizes that Dollarhyde is the Tooth Fairy. Above right: Shortly after this, the plane lands at Lambert Field in St. Louis, where a police car is waiting.

We begin this post with Graham and Crawford flying to St. Louis to apprehend the Tooth Fairy. When Francis Dollarhyde's photo (with accompanying information such as his physical description) comes through on the airplane's datafax machine, Graham realizes Dollaryde is the Tooth Fairy, and Will's reaction to the information and photo in the datafax is to be taken to mean that he has finally identified the killer within himself; he now knows what he must do to defeat the killer within: he knows that it must be he himself who eliminates Dollarhyde. At this point, his awareness of all this has at least partially emerged into his conscious mind - he is no longer operating solely on unconscious motivation.

When the plane lands in St. Louis, the police immediately pick up Graham and Crawford, and begin transporting them through the night. After they have gone some distance, Graham tells the driver of the car he's in to go on to Dollarhyde's house instead of going to the prearranged meeting place; he then proceeds to load his gun, even though Crawford tells him that he won't need it, since it is supposed be a SWAT team that will take down the killer. At this point, there are two police cars headed through the darkness toward Dollarhyde's house, with Graham and Crawford in the leading car.

When the two cars have traveled to a point very close to Dollarhyde's house, such that their headlights might be visible to Dollarhyde, Graham tells his driver to turn his headlights off. A few seconds later, Graham suddenly grabs the steering wheel and turns it sharply to the right (see screencaps below), causing the car behind to swerve and run into a ditch. When this happens, one of the officers who was inside this second car is severely injured and thus incapacitated, so another officer says that he will remain with the injured man and wait for backup. All of Graham's actions here are intentional: he knows that once he tells his driver to turn out his lights, the driver won't be able to see where he's going and will be forced to a sudden stop, making it so that the driver of the second car will have to swerve to avoid hitting the first car (Graham's car) in the back. The reason Will does all these things is because, as stated above, he knows that it must be he himself who kills Dollarhyde, and thus, he has to put as many police officers as possible 'out of commission', to keep them from interfering with his planned action.

Above left: Will Graham reaches his left arm over from the front passenger seat of the police cruiser he's in, grabs the steering wheel, and forces the car to swerve hard right. Above right: This, in turn, forces the car that was following to swerve wildly and wreck into a ditch (this car is indicated by the arrow).

With regard to the fact that Crawford is working against Graham, it must be the case that while driving to Dollarhyde's house, the reason Crawford told Will that he wouldn't need a gun was so that Graham would consider entering the house unarmed, and thus be more likely to lose the confrontation with Dollarhyde. Crawford only feigned being injured by Dollarhyde's gunshot while in the yard - note that he doesn't appear to be injured, when he later meets up with Graham after Dollarhyde has been killed; in fact, he feigns a limp as he gets nearer to Graham on the dock near Dollarhyde's house (as shown further below). The reason Crawford told Graham to wait for backup prior to entering Dollarhyde's house, was to effectively remind Will that backup was in fact on its way, thus encouraging Will to hurry up and enter the house alone (Graham's unconscious is 'anxious' to resolve the dilemma of whether he himself is a killer). (As an aside, Crawford must have intentionally wound up Will during the 'revelation' scene, to help enable Will to have his insight into how Dollarhyde selects his victims).

Top left: Dollarhyde (pointed to by orange arrow) shoots into his back yard at Jack Crawford. By this point in the action, Dollarhyde has already shot and killed two police officers, and Crawford and Graham (with Graham in the front yard) are the only immediate threats Dollarhyde faces. Top right: While being shot at by Dollarhyde, Crawford falls due to tripping over some brush while running. Above left: Crawford gets back up and runs some more; we note that he never fires his gun at any point, as indicated by the absence of light flashes from its barrel during the entire action sequence. Above right: Crawford, who has yet to be struck by any of the shots from Dollarhyde's shotgun, dives for the ground to make the killer think he has been hit. Jack does all of this so that it will appear he is unable to go into Dollarhyde's house and help Will there.

Above left: After all the action, the fact that Crawford runs to meet Will at the dock near Dollarhyde's house, is further evidence that he was never hit by any of Dollarhyde's gunshots. He does not appear to be injured in any way. Above right: Once Crawford is walking on the wood of the dock, he feigns a limp, because he knows Graham can hear him approaching due to the sound of his hard shoes hitting the wood. (Note that Graham has his back turned.) Left: Crawford sits down once he gets within a few yards of Will.

Regarding the hidden plot in general, we must conclude that prior to the point in time at which the film's beginning is set, the situation has been such that Hannibal Lecktor has worked with the FBI to solve other cases, long before the Tooth Fairy began killing people, and before Lecktor himself was imprisoned; specifically, he had worked with Dr. Bloom, Graham, and Jack Crawford, and possibly some of the other experts as well. We know that Bloom and Crawford were already friends of Graham before the movie's beginning, though that does not necessarily imply that they were friends with each other. We also know that Dr. Bloom and Molly are half-siblings, and that they were married prior to Molly's meeting Will. The fact is that Molly began an affair with Will while she was married to the doctor. During that affair, she conceived Kevin (with Will).

Will had never seen Molly with anything but curly hair until after she and Kevin had been relocated from Captiva, the implication being that Molly had curled her hair, at some point during her marriage to the doctor, in anticipation of meeting another man with wavy hair; in specific, she may well have seen a picture of Will before meeting him, since he was the doctor's friend. Her plan was to conceive a child outside of her marriage with the doctor; her reason for wanting to do so was so that the child would not have one or more birth defects due to being produced from an incestuous union - recall that Molly is the doctor's half-sister. The doctor knew Molly's hair wasn't naturally curly, and since he has wavy hair, he didn't have a problem believing that he was Kevin's father (recall that Kevin has straight hair). Things must have gone on like this for some time, with Graham and Bloom working together on cases, with Bloom not knowing about the affair and Graham not knowing he was a father. Then at some point, the doctor found out Molly had committed incest with Kevin. When he confronted her, she broke down and admitted she had cheated on the doctor and that Will was Kevin's biological father. At this point, the doctor divorced her, and they decided she should marry Will and take Kevin with her. Still, even after marrying Molly, Will didn't know he was Kevin's biological father - Molly and the doctor continued to hide this fact from Will, with Molly keeping her hair curled. That Molly's only real 'interest' in Will was in using him to conceive a child outsider of her marriage, is indicated by the fact that she doesn't want to stay married to him, and instead wants to reunite with the doctor.

When the movie starts, we, the audience, are effectively 'dropped' into the pre-existing situation described above. We soon see that Molly wants to take advantage of Will's being offered the Tooth Fairy assignment; in specific, she wants to be rid of him, and have the doctor come back to her, as indicated above. Her and the doctor's parting of the ways must have never been a final act; in fact, Molly has been unhappy with Will, and she started seeing the doctor again while Will was recovering in the hospital from his encounter with Lecktor.

When Graham makes his visit to Lecktor's cell in Baltimore, Lecktor quickly picks up on the fact Will has a family. Lecktor knew Bloom professionally at first, including while the Doctor was married to Molly, and during his Baltimore meeting with Will, he deduces that Will is raising the same boy who had previously been being raised by Molly and the doctor - recall that Lecktor knew from Graham's scent, the brand of shaving lotion that his son had gotten him for Christmas; he must have recognized it as the same brand that the doctor had once used. Of course, during Will's visit to the prison, Lecktor also deduces that he is now married to Molly. All of this is what gave Lecktor the 'inside information' he needed to author the book code message as he did, including the portion of it that, when decoded, says, "kill them all."

When the book code message comes through in the investigators' meeting, Bloom gets nervous because he isn't sure what it says. Molly is hoping that the doctor will show up in Captiva, but his suspicion leads him to believe that the message is designed to set him up (which it has been), so he doesn't go to the Graham home to meet with Molly. After the investigator's meeting, Brian Zeller whispers to Will that he wants to meet him in private. When they do meet, Zeller tells Will something which leads Will to conclude that incest between Molly and Kevin has occurred. Then, at some point between the time Molly and Kevin are first relocated, and the dock scene at the new location, Will confronts Molly about the incest. She then admits to Will that she is Kevin's biological mother and Will his father, and that the incest has been occurring.

Regarding Brian Zeller's reason for telling Will about the incest taking place between Molly and Kevin, it is correct to say that Brian is working against Will - he tells Will about the incest so that Will will have more of a reason to "kill them all" (Molly, Kevin, and Dr. Bloom). Note that what we've said above about Brian's being involved in the deception implies that he, like Beverly Katz, knows more than Bloom - he knows Lecktor wants Will to do away with Bloom (in addition to Molly and Kevin). As indicated back in part 40, Hannibal Lecktor is attempting to prevent the second coming of Christ. Katz, Zeller, and other people are assisting him in this attempt.

Crawford must have been the one who first introduced Graham and Lecktor to each other, several years prior to the point of the movie's beginning; then later, but before the events in Manhunter, Lecktor got to Crawford and convinced him to work on the side of evil. Note that in this scenario, Crawford still represents John the Baptist, in that he appears as such to Graham's unconscious. This is a key part of helping Lecktor defeat the second coming of Christ - Will has to have someone who 'foretells' his own coming, so Jack helps Lecktor manipulate Will such that Will's unconscious seeks to fulfill this foretelling. Part of Crawford's fulfilling of his own role, includes his exclaiming "Jesus Christ!" in Will's presence, at two or three points in the movie. Note that since Crawford says to Molly, prior to bringing Will into the Tooth Fairy investigation, that he will keep Will as far away from things as possible, it must be the case that Crawford isn't aware, at least when things first start out, that Molly wants to get rid of Will.

Note that if Will had killed his own family, per Lecktor's original plan, and had therefore never encountered Dollarhyde, he would have been locked up in prison or placed in an institution for the rest of his life, and Lecktor would thereby have prevented the second coming of Christ. Lecktor only later finds out enough details about Dollarhyde, via the 'spies' he has in Dollarhyde's camp (Crawford and Bowman, as discussed in part 75), to realize that he can do more than just eliminate Graham; i.e., he realizes that he can get rid of both Will and Dollarhyde at the same time. By authoring his part of the tissue note the way he has, Lecktor has provided Graham with enough impetus to think he can begin to become Christ; killing Molly and Kevin would then defeat this becoming, as stated. It is only later that Hannibal needs to have Graham specifically think that God's power is bound up with the ability to kill, for then, Will's confrontation with Dollarhyde will result in the defeat of the second coming no matter which man wins the confrontation, as previously described. And, if Dollarhyde defeats Graham, Crawford is still present and armed at the scene at Dollarhyde's house, as described above, such that he can kill Dollarhyde before anyone else arrives. As mentioned earlier, Crawford and Bowman are ultimately working for Lecktor, and are functioning for him by 'spying' on Dollarhyde; and, Jimmy Price is ultimately working for Dollarhyde, as a 'spy' in Lecktor's camp. Crawford intentionally goes down in the yard once he figures out Dollarhyde knows he has been deceived - as evidenced by the fact that he keeps shooting at Crawford, as stated. Reba wasn't part of the plan, neither Crawford nor Graham knew she'd be at Dollarhdye's house on the night the action takes place.

Above left: Graham jumps through a window at the front of Dollarhyde's house, to get at the killer. Above right: Dollarhyde with blood spread under his arms, making him look like the 'great red dragon'.

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